Instagram has added the option to upload Live Photos shot on iPhone and turn them into Boomerangs, all this from within the app itself. The only limitation at present time is that Live Photos can only be used in your stories (not in your main Instagram feed), although this may change in the future.

In this post, I will show you how to turn your Live Photos into Boomerangs in your Instagram stories.

First and foremost, you must have Live Photos available on your device in order to upload them. The Live Photos have to be available in your Camera roll as Instagram won’t let you shoot a Live Photo directly from the app itself. Due to the time limitation put on what can be uploaded to your Instagram stories, your Live Photos also have to be shot within the last 24 hours in order to be visible in the image picker.

How to turn Live Photos into Boomerangs in Instagram stories

1) Launch the Instagram app and tap on the Camera icon in the upper left corner to create a new story.

2) Swipe up on the screen to reveal photos from your Camera roll that are eligible to be uploaded to your story.

3) Select the Live Photo you want to upload to your story.

4) Once your photo is loaded in the editor, 3D Touch on the screen by pressing firmly with a finger. You will see a loading wheel appear on the screen briefly, and the word Boomerang flash. That’s it. You have created a Boomerang based on your Live Photo.

5) Proceed to annotate the animated GIF and share it to your story as you would with any other photo or video.

While I am not entirely certain about this, it seems that the Boomerang will capture a fraction of a second before and after the moment you actually took the shot. For best effects, you will definitely have to time the shot of your Live Photo right.